[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 151 (Tuesday, August 10, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43663-43665]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-16959]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

[CFDA Numbers: 93.581, 93.587, 93.612]


Notice of Final Issuance on the Administration for Native 
Americans Program Policies and Procedures

AGENCY: Administration for Native Americans, (ANA), Administration for 
Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS).

ACTION: Notice of final issuance.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 814 of the Native American Programs Act of 
1974 (NAPA), as amended, ANA is required to provide members of the 
public an opportunity to comment on proposed changes in interpretive 
rules and general statements of policy and to give notice of the 
proposed changes no less than 30 days before such changes become 
effective. On February 19, 2021, ANA published a Notice of Public 
Comment (NOPC) in the Federal Register regarding its proposed 
interpretive rules and general statements of policy relative to its six 
FY 2021 Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs): Environmental 
Regulatory Enhancement (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NR-1907); Native American 
Language Preservation and Maintenance--Esther Martinez

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Immersion (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NB-1958); Native American Language 
Preservation and Maintenance (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NL-1924); Social and 
Economic Development Strategies (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NA-1906); Social and 
Economic Development Strategies--Alaska (HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NK-1902); and 
Social and Economic Strategies--Growing Organizations (HHS-2021-ACF-
ANA-NN-1918). This Notice of Issuance responds to the public comments 
received from the NOPC.

DATES: The FY 2021 FOAs have been published, and these FOAs serve as 
the final notice of ANA's proposed changes.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carmelia Strickland, Director, 
Division of Program Operations, Administration for Native Americans, 
(877) 922-9262, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 814 of NAPA, as amended, 
ANA is required to provide members of the public an opportunity to 
comment on proposed changes in interpretive rules and general 
statements of policy and to give notice of the proposed changes no less 
than 30 days before such changes become effective.
    ANA published a NOPC (86 FR 10283) on February 19, 2021, with 
proposed policy and program clarifications, modifications, and 
activities for the FY 2021 FOAs. The NOPC provided proposed 
clarifications, modifications, and new text for six FY 2021 FOAs. 
During the 30-day comment period, ANA received three responses to the 
NOPC. ANA reviewed the comments and determined them non-substantive and 
therefore would not require changes to the FOAs.
    The following are the public comments received in response to the 
NOPC and ANA's responses:
    Comment: My comment is that I hope to have ANA implement a 
requirement that all data collected in Indian Country by non-Indigenous 
and Indigenous entities are collected in a manner that ensures the 
tribe and community will have ownership, guardianship, and access to 
that data.
    Response: ANA highly encourages tribes to be aware of their rights 
to intellectual property rights and data sovereignty. In the past, ANA 
has provided trainings at grantee meetings and webinars through ANA's 
training and technical assistance centers. In addition, ANA included a 
statement in all FY 2021 FOAs that encouraged applicants to educate 
themselves on intellectual property rights and the protection of 
ownership of Native language materials, ceremonies, music and dance, 
and other forms of knowledge and cultural practices that originate from 
Native communities. However, due to the variety of laws, rights, and 
jurisdictions of these matters, ANA leaves this up to the discretion of 
grantees and applicants.
    Comment: We urge ANA to discontinue the use of ``normalized 
scoring.'' While the intent of this practice is to normalize scoring 
across all review panels, it has had a negative impact on applications 
that obtain high scores in their review panels, but end up with a much 
lower scaled score, unjustly knocking them out of the competitive range 
for a funding award.
    Response: ANA may use the statistical technique of 
``normalization'' to convert raw scores from review panels to a 
standardized scale to negate any differences or biases in scoring 
behaviors among different panels and numerous reviewers. The decision 
to normalize scores occurs in advance of the panel session so as not to 
prejudice any specific competition and that all awards are made 
consistently across the different funding competitions when there are 
three or more panels. ANA has left the option for using normalized 
scores in the FY 2021 FOAs but will keep this comment in mind for 
planning the FY 2022 competitions.
    Comment: We would like clarification about whether training and 
technical assistance information will still be available and accessible 
on the websites of the regional training and technical assistance 
providers, and that applicants who do not provide a letter of intent 
will be able to access such services.
    Response: ANA provides technical assistance throughout all stages 
of the application process, regardless of providing a letter of intent.
    Comment: Project-specific funding does not clearly define 
``essentially identical or similar in whole or in part.'' It is not 
clear if the development of resources, like textbooks, would count as 
``essentially identical or similar'' projects if they build on previous 
work and use similar project designs.
    Response: ANA has a long-standing policy that it will not fund 
projects that are essentially identical or similar in whole or in part 
to previously funded projects proposed by the same applicant. While an 
applicant can have previously developed materials, the new project 
cannot duplicate the same materials and must address different 
subjects, populations, etc. If an applicant has concerns about whether 
ANA has funded them in the past for a project ``essentially identical 
or similar in whole or in part,'' ANA encourages them to reach out to 
ANA or an ANA technical assistance center for clarification.
    Comment: ANA is requiring applicants to the Esther Martinez 
Immersion (EMI) language FOA to submit ``an official document that 
certifies the applicant has at least 3 years of experience in operating 
and administering'' an immersion school or language nest as required by 
the statute. As it stands, there are very few immersion schools and 
language nests in the United States where applicants could gain 
experience. We propose that this be modified to provide a training 
alternative for applicants without access to existing immersion 
programs. We recommend that ANA provide examples of certifications that 
will be accepted.
    Response: The requirement of a certification by the applicant 
having not less than 3 years of experience in operating and 
administering a Native American language survival school or a Native 
American language nest is in the authorizing legislation of the Native 
American Programs Act for the EMI. ANA only clarified in the FOA that 
this was a requirement. In the EMI FOA, it states that the application 
should include an official document signed by the authorized 
representative that certifies that the applicant has at least 3 years 
of experience operating and administering a Native American language 
nest, Native American language survival school, or any other education 
program in which instruction is conducted in a Native American language 
in accordance with Public Law 109-394 (42 U.S.C. 2991b-3(c)(7)). ANA's 
training and technical assistance centers are available to help 
applicants meet the requirements of the EMI FOA.
    Comment: We would like to commend ANA for the proposed changes to 
the FY 2021 FOAs. We appreciate the revision resulting from the Indian 
Community Economic Enhancement Act (ICEEA) of 2020, which added Native 
community development financial institutions (CDFIs) as eligible 
entities. Similarly, we strongly support the new economic development 
legislative priorities that will be incorporated into the program areas 
of interest for the SEDS FOA. We encourage ANA to make it clear that 
these economic development priority points are available for 
applications from existing Native CDFIs that proposed economic 
development projects as well as from eligible applicants who propose to 
develop new Native CDFIs. In addition, we applaud the proposed efforts 
to reduce the redundancy and the number of scoring criteria in the FY 
2021 FOAs.

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    Response: Thank you for your comment. The new ICEEA law does allow 
for the development of existing Native CDFIs. Therefore, should a 
Native CDFI submit an application that proposes a project for any of 
the following projects: (1) The development of a tribal code or courts 
system for purposes of economic development, including commercial 
codes, training for court personnel, (2) the development of non-profit 
subsidiaries or other tribal business structures; or ``(3) the 
development of a tribal master plan for community and economic 
development and infrastructure'' and the application includes the 
economic priority area(s) in the project goal, all objectives and 
indicators as reflected in the project's framework, project approach, 
OWP, and outcome tracker, they will be awarded points. ANA will 
instruct reviewers to provide all bonus points for applications that 
propose an economic priority project that expands or creates a Native 
CDFI.

Elizabeth Leo,
Senior Grants Policy Specialist, Office of Grants Policy, 
Administration for Children and Families.
[FR Doc. 2021-16959 Filed 8-9-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-34-P